Google cleans up its act by deleting 60k spammy apps from Play store

In what appears to be a bid to finally address some of the complaints about its disordered online marketplace, Google has pushed almost 60,000 ‘low-quality’ apps out of the Google Play store.

App deletions peaked in February, with the highest per-month number ever of spammy app deletions recorded that month, TechCrunch has reported, citing “a company in the mobile app industry which has insight into changes like this.” Admittedly, some of those apps were likely removed from the store by their publishers, but it’s believed that the majority were canned by Google for being spammy or otherwise violating Google Play’s policies.

Many of the deleted apps were within the MP3/ringtone category, which is notoriously home to low-quality apps and publishers.

Whereas Apple has a stringent approval process in place that requires apps be vetted before they can appear in the App Store, Google operates a free-for-all system, whereby apps are examined after they’re published.